Warrior Within
by misshastix
Summary: Santana Lopez risks her own life for the sake of her elderly father as war approaches. On the other side of the country, the General's son is slain and his twin sister, Brittany Pierce, decides to take his place in order to exact revenge. When the two meet, they end up realising that there is a lot more to their own identities than they previously thought. Roughly based on Mulan.


The sun shone in through the wooden framed window, revealing a silhouette lying lightly on a white sheet bed. The figure tossed sideways, her raven black hair sprawled carelessly over her pillowcase.

She wore a white nightgown made of the lightest cotton, and it stopped right above her bare tanned thigh as she twisted her head around, waking up as soon as the bright lights hit her face.

She blinked a few times, her long dark eyelashes fluttering over her chocolate brown eyes until she sat up, trying to clear her vision from the fog that was created by a deep sleep.  
Once she was able to focus on the room without feeling dizzy, she stood up, letting her dress fall loosely around her legs as she grabbed more appropriate attire for the day and disappeared into the washroom to get changed and ready for the days events.

Once she was done, she gazed outside her bedroom window, watching her elderly father make his way up the hill on their property. The young girl briefly wondered if he was helping her to do her chores, but as he entered the small temple that stood on the hill, she realised he wasn't. She let out an exaggerated sigh, and walked out of her room and into the main house. Her mum and abuela, her father's mother, stood around, busying themselves with household chores such as cleaning or dishes.

It was a simple life, but it was theirs.

"Hermano menor!" her light and husky voice echoed throughout the house. She scanned the recently cleaned living area but there was no sign of the dog that was hers.

"Santana, no yelling inside the house. It isn't lady-like," her mother, who was almost the spitting image, albeit older, version of her, rounded walked around the nearest corner of the house, her dark brown gown sashaying around her ankles as she swept into view.

Santana narrowed her eyes and made a face at her mother's back as she disappeared around another corner.

Santana was a mere seventeen years old. She had no interest in becoming a 'lady' and she sure as hell did not have any interest in being matched off to some completely random man that she would have to bear children for. Heck, she knew all the men in this town and every single one of them made her nose wrinkle in disgust.

They were all vile creatures. If her family wasn't so great, she'd have wished that she were someone else, or maybe, that she had been born a male.

It seemed unfair for her that men seemed to make all the decisions in this country. She knew she was smarter than all the men in this town combined, and also more talented, but because she was a _girl, _she was rendered basically useless. Her only use being to create more men. She rolled her eyes again at the thought and then internally cringed as she realised that today was _the _day.

The day of the Matchmaker.

A white dog finally rounded the same corner that Santana's mother had came from. His paws were dirty and Santana knew that her mother was definitely not going to be happy, but she could worry about that later. The dog brushed his body against Santana's bare legs and she bent down to ruffle his fur. The dog yapped excitedly as Santana cooed his name. His tail was wagging so fast that Santana could barely see it.

"You can help me with today's chores," she told him. "Because today is _such _an important day for me."

The dog did not sense her sarcasm and so he bounced around some more after hearing his mistresses voice. Santana smiled at him fondly and the thought of leaving him, and the rest of her family behind for some complete random man pained her. She wondered if there was any way to get out of it but she knew there wasn't. She'd just have to stop being a brat and suck it up, she supposed.

Santana found the sack of grain and tied it around the dog collar, as well as a bone that dangled in front of his nose, just slightly out of his reach. He smelled it and began to lunge at it in anticipation as Santana slit a hole in the sack. She opened the back door for him, making sure that no-one could see how she was 'cheating' with her chores and let him run out, the grain pouring from the sack and in front of the chickens.

Santana's lips curved into a smile until she heard her abuela call. "Santana, time to leave!"

In the small blue and white painted tower that stood erect on the hill, Arnaldo Lopez gently reached out to the gold plated dragon statue that hung from the ceiling, almost snake-like in stature, and placed an incense on the golden plate of which it rested. His back ached as he lowered himself onto one knee with the help of his trust wooden cane, a thank you gift after he retired from his medicinal duties, and bowed his head to the tombstones of his ancestors before him, placing his cane to the side and his hands flat against the ground in front of him.

"Honourable ancestors, please help Santana impress The Matchmaker today."

Sadness clouted his gaze. Arnaldo was a spectacular father to his only daughter. Whilst his friends and neighbours prayed every night for the conception and birth of a baby boy to grace their lives, Arnaldo merely only prayed for his wife and future child to have a safe and welcoming delivery into this world, and when his wife had told him that their baby was a girl, he could have not been more enthused and proud to call himself her father.

The small family dog suddenly ran in spastically, as he knew not of the respect one must have in front of the dead. He barked repeatedly as he ran in little circles, spilling grain everywhere. Arnaldo watched him run back out again, only to have his presence graced by several clucking chickens instead.

The madness that had suddenly begun in the small tower began to feel like a foreshadowing of disaster to the poor old man, so he clasped his hands together tightly and spoke once again in prayer. "Please, please help her."

"Father?"

Arnaldo turned around and saw his daughter. He knew he must send her on her way; she was probably late, because she was Santana, but as she stood underneath the sun's shining glare, he marvelled at just how perfect she was, and he hoped that the Matchmaker would set her up with someone that was worthy of her, someone that deserved her love and treated her right after she left this place.

"You're going to be late," he told her softly. Were those tears brimming in her eyes? Santana was still very much a child. "You better go."

"Yes, Father."

"Bring honour to our family, do not forget, Santana."

* * *

Santana opened the heavy iron gate that guarded their property and squeezed herself out of the small gap, making sure that the dog didn't follow her out otherwise she would get a scolding from her father. She walked slowly along the dusty road and hoped that whatever happened next, wouldn't end up being the end of her life.

She wondered if there was any more to life than what had been described, but as she walked closer and closer into town, she knew that she would probably never find out.

She stopped outside the house that she knew would help her get ready for the Matchmaker, and she hesitated briefly before she lifted her tired hand up to knock on the door. The door opened almost instantly and a woman that Santana had known all her life, Emma, dragged her in. But since today was different, Santana looked at Emma differently. This woman was supposed to help her look presentable, she was no longer on Santana's side.

Santana stripped out of what little clothes she had on and carefully lifted one foot into the tub of water. She yelped and drew it back instantly when the coldness came into contact with her skin. "It's cold," she knew she sounded childish but she couldn't help it.

"It would've been warm if you came on time," Emma scolded her in response, pushing on Santana's bare back lightly until she was forced to go back into the tub. Santana braced herself and cringed as she sank her body into the heat-faded water. She winced as her abuela assisted Emma by dumping a bucket of water on Santana's head. It was cold too, and she began to shiver as the droplets of water fell down her face and onto her shoulders.

A few minutes later Santana hoisted herself up out of the tub, grateful to get out although her body had adjusted to the extreme temperature, and a few other women started drying her with fluffy white towels. Santana tensed her body as they began to touch her in places only she should be touching and she gritted her teeth together. She hated people touching her.

The torture wasn't over for Santana yet. After she had been dried, they wrapped her tightly in all types of garments that felt itchy against Santana's skin, though the fabric was too tough for Santana to actually scratch through it. She eventually sighed and decided to give up; resigning herself to her fate all too soon.

Layer upon layer of makeup was then applied onto Santana's face. She cringed as she felt the liquid ooze into her pores and she tried her hardest not to cry when the mascara touched the very tip of her eyelid, causing her to blink rapidly against the shining light of the sun.

What seemed like an eternity later, she was finally ushered outside. Santana ignored her mother's cries of, 'you're late, so late!' and quickly got into line behind four other girls, who seemed to be chanting something. Santana mumbled random words under her breath, mostly curse words, so quietly so that no-one could hear so she looked like she fit in.

The other townspeople left their houses; Santana had grown up with these people all her life, but like Emma they seemed like strangers as they joined in the chanting towards her doom. She eyed them all warily until she finally stood outside a large temple, where a large and rather unpleasing to the eye woman came out and stared at the five girls critically, as if she were judging them on everything from their faces to their toes.

The other girls seemed to take it well, Santana noticed, as she side-glanced them, but she couldn't help but feel uncomfortable under the gaze of the large woman.

"Please bring honour to us all!" all of the girls, except one, chanted.

* * *

_"Brett! Brett! Where are you?" a very tall, lithe blonde girl roamed through the hallways of her extravagant home. She passed her mother, whom was kneeling on the ground in the prayer room, and several maids who were busying themselves in the kitchen, chopping up vegetables and boiling meat._

_She walked quickly barefoot, as she knew if she were found without shoes she would get in trouble. It took her one entire hour to roam the house, and there was no sign of her brother anywhere. She shrugged on her brother's large jacket and pants, much warmer than anything she owned, and opened the door outside. If anyone saw her, she could have been easily mistaken for her brother. The only tell-tale sign that she was a female was her long blonde hair that fell down to her waist._

_The falling snowflakes touched her face as if they were embracing her and she sucked in a deep breath of air before she continued onwards. After awhile of searching, she found that her brother was nowhere in the towns vicinity, and though it was forbidden for her to leave the walls, she too knew her twin brother would only do so if there was no risk._

_The journey up the mountain was a hard one, but it was the only one that Brittany knew where to go, and it was the only place for her brother to have gone to made any sense. The Pierce family owned a small temple up yonder deep in the forest that they used to frequent when their country wasn't at war and the forest had been deemed a safe place. It used to be Brett's favourite place, so it made sense to Brittany that he would be there at a time like this, on the brink of war and destruction._

_She looked up at the temple, drenched in snow and almost unrecognisable. When was the last time she had been here? She searched through her memory but could not remember. She dug through a few inches of snow in order to be able to free the door, and it only occurred to her after she opened the temple door, that her brother could not possibly be inside otherwise there would have been no snow build up at the entrance._

_She nodded once and muttered a quick prayer, her eyes shut and her hands clenched together before leaving. She headed back out, at a sudden loss of what to do, or where to go. Should she leave the search for her brother to more capable people? Perhaps he was back in town and she had somehow missed him. A shiver ran through her body as she suddenly acknowledged the danger she was in. She scolded herself mentally and began to head back down the hill, taking a different path in the hopes of it being shorter._

_She walked slowly as the snowstorm began to brew a much more vicious storm as it had before. She placed one foot delicately in front of the other before her right foot caught on what must have been a fallen branch and she slipped down into place. A small scream escaped her lips as she felt her entire body being sucked under the snow, and she gasped as she began to slide down the hill._

_She eventually stopped and managed to pick herself up, shuddering because the snow had seeped managed to seep through the thick coat. She brushed it down, watching clear drops of liquid fall into the snow, when suddenly they were not liquid anymore._

_Her gaze followed a small river of red that trickled through the snow and she eventually met with a body so familiar, that if it were female, she would claim it as her own._

_She tried to scream, to speak, but she could not. In front of her was the body of her slain brother. His lofty blonde hair fell unevenly over his face, covering bruise marks and gashes that had been made on the skin that was almost as pale as the snow. Her hand flung up towards her mouth and she bit down heavily on it in grief, feeling her own teeth pierce her skin._

_His body lay in an awkward position as it began to disappear slowly in the snow. His arm looked like it had been broken in three different places and a large gash in his chest revealed where the river of red was running from. Brittany managed to compose herself and she dared herself to go closer to him until she was touching him. A small feather, one off that of a hawk, fell to the ground as she held her hand to his skin._

_"Brett!" she suddenly wailed, uncaring if whoever had murdered him, the Huns, were around. They could slay her too. What else did she have to live for? Her father, the General, would just marry her off to some random man after this war was over. If they survived the war, that was. Her mother would just agree and Brittany would be forced into a life with someone she probably did not love. What kind of a life was that? She knew she was silly, believing the stories of love that sometimes grandparents told their grandchildren, but it was the only hope she had in this bleak world._

_Her brother, too, had made everything better. He was the light in their life. When they were younger, they used to pretend they were the other. Brittany always preferred to play with the boys rather than the girls, sometime their mother heavily disapproved of. But with a wink, her brother was always there to support her, and sometimes, tease her too, in a friendly sibling manner._

_He was her knight in shining armour, the one who would always be there for her._

_Now he was gone. Brittany's fists clenched angrily. Any grievance she had was very quickly replaced with rage. She would slay them. The Huns. She would slay all of them. They would be begging for her mercy before the year was over. They would wish they had never ever messed with her family, her life._

_She took a step back, watching the snow covered the remainder of her brother. His sword lay in his unclenched hand and she picked it up, holding it against her neck. With one swift movement, all her long blonde hair fell to the ground and she was Brittany no more._

* * *

AN: hermano menor is 'little brother' in Spanish (according to Google anyway) since in the Disney version Mulan calls the dog 'little brother.' I intend to base mostly the start of this on Disney's Mulan with the exception of Brittany of course, though it will end up taking a different direction, and of course the characterisation will be _very _different.

Thanks for reading!


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